Some Sundays change your life
by lifez-beautiful
Summary: Alec is slowly finding out the funny little nuances and nuisances of living in a small town and finally coming to terms with the fact that no matter how much he tries to avoid the Sundays, they just suck him into their vortex! Not proofread.


He refused to go to pub with her but then she always knew her boss wasn't a very sociable person, so she just smiles and takes it in her stride. Days go on and suddenly, without even realising, both of them including the whole town had gotten into a new habit- The Sunday church visit! No, not because suddenly everybody got a divine calling or something of that sort, it's more because people realised how lonely they all were in their own lives and felt meeting few locals and socialising with them would be a good thing to do after all. And yeah, if they could learn a few good things in between all that socializing then well, it wasn't hurting anyone either. They all had finally realised why Sunday morning church visits were so popular in the good ol' times… It was technically almost like a party where people got to dress up in their best outfits, meet people they like and gossip!

As people realised that morning mass equalled a party, then well, the next best thing they decided was finding a way to extend the party mood when the mass was over... like an after party of sorts... And well, that's how the Sunday lunch potluck tradition started in Broadchurch. Faith brought them together... well faith in spending few happy hours together with friends and family, that is.

Anyway, the first few times, Alec had categorically refused to attend any such frivolous events but as the months went by and he got to know the town people more closely, it became harder and harder to be rude and shut off the invitations so blindly. So then for the next few weeks, he had started giving some sort of lame reasons to evade the invitations and Ellie who was always one of the persons who constantly asked him to attend, usually let him get away with his half-hearted excuses. But then all that changed one Sunday when she finally decided that she had enough of his shitty attitude and told him off by saying, "See, I think you are still not sure of this place and its people! Because otherwise why would you still maintain your distance from us and always be on the fringe of things?"

Alec was slightly taken aback. He didn't expect her to confront him; he expected she would let him get away with his lame reasons for not attending the potluck this time too like all those previous times but it looked like he could never predict her correctly. So he dazedly looked at her for a few seconds too long and it was a rookie mistake because next thing he heard was her saying, "Okay then it's decided. Be there by noon sharp and since it's the first time you are excused from bringing anything but from next time you better bring something to the table! And yeah we are keeping it alcohol free because we want the kids to eat freely, also don't bother buying anything, it's strictly home cooked food only zone there. Also, please don't come in your usual suit, I'm so bored of that thing frankly speaking, so please come in something more casual."

Before he could say a word in protest, she quickly added, "See, I know you might not feel the need to have many friends but think about Daisy… If she really needs to feel at home here, then she should know more people here than just you, me and those kids at her school. She needs to socialise more and there is no safer place to do that than there. So please come without any more lame excuses, I'll be waiting. Bye" and saying she left without giving him any chance to refuse.

He didn't want to go, no he really really didn't want to go, but then he knew she would give him the silent treatment if he didn't turn up just like those early days in the office and he didn't want that again. These days they thankfully didn't have any gruesome crime to deal with and he was used to chatting with her during lunch time speculating over some famous cold cases. Some days they fancied they could try to solve even the notorious Ripper cases if at all they could get a hand on all the evidence of those times. Well he knew discussing serial killers was not an appropriate lunch time talk but they were police officers and what else could they talk about anyway?

So he finally ended up standing around a table surrounded by many people he knew quite well by then. The potluck was being held at Beth's and looked like it was the fixed place every Sunday. It was a cheery atmosphere with the kids and adults of all size shape and years mingling happily. But he was at loss when it came to small talk, so he just sat there and smiled occasionally. Food was really good but since eating was not really his favourite pastime his plate had very few items on it. And as if Ellie had a radar about his eating habits, she came near him and decided to put a sample of everything on display there on his plate saying it was a sample tasting! Then as if there was some more microscopic space miraculously left on his plate still, she added a second serving of potato mash. When he gave her a ridiculous look, she smiled cheekily and said, "I made this! You will surely love it. This is one of my specialties!" He couldn't help but smile at her cockiness. Anyway for the sake of full disclosure, it really was delicious even if he never plans on admitting it to her.

It was pleasant and what more was that was Daisy loved it, said it made her feel like she was part of a proper family and town. So since that whole idea was established, he had given into the adult peer pressure and started going to the Sunday potlucks ever since. Mostly he just brought salads to the table but one day he had brought some soup and people suddenly started missing his salads and asked him to bring that next time! And well, if the message wasn't clear enough, she had personally decided to put it bluntly to him by saying, "Boss, your gloop sucks. So kindly stick to your boring salads. Even if they were bland, we could at least use it threaten kids to eat that before they got their dessert, so it served at least some purpose but this" She pointed to the weird looking soup and continued, "this is just… ugh well... sigh…you get the point right?"

He gave her an exasperated look and said, "Yes Miller, I get the point crystal clear. So can you kindly stop calling my soup 'gloop' now?!" She just casually shrugged and said, "yeah, if you say so but still 'gloop' suits that thing better if you ask me." He just grumpily harrumphed and went to talk with somebody else and of course he could hear her teasing laugh in the background.

The Sunday after that and another 2 more went away chasing after a new serial killer who had come to disrupt the tranquillity of their peaceful town but thankfully they were a great team and nailed the bastard with an air tight case at last. So when they were finally ready to attend another potluck which their kids were anyway attending despite their absence, their kids demanded their respective parents make up for their absence for the previous potlucks with something really good for the potluck table. Ellie of course had another one of the famous recipe up her sleeve- her yummy Chicken curry dish which she had kept secret just for an occasion like this and decided she would unleash its awesomeness on everybody that Sunday! But one look at the nervous face of her boss on Saturday evening, she knew he was trying to figure out the recipe of some other gloop in his mind! "Oh God! Not again!" was all she thought before making up her mind!


End file.
